The most popular conventional kickboard consists of a buoyant rectangular shaped flat body having a slightly rounded front periphery. The latter kickboard offers little streamlining and provides a significant resistance to forward propulsion by the swimmer. Consequently, a beginning swimmer is not generally able to propel this board with significant speed and an intermediate or advanced swimmer cannot propel the board with a speed that is similar to that which he or she can achieve by normal swimming.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,362,518 issued to Boissiere discloses a foam kickboard with rounded edges having a pair of flat, elongated thickened flanks joined by a thinner central, flat web with hand-hold recesses on the sides. Boissiere discloses no streamlining of the bottom or top surfaces.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,886,476 issued to Winters, Jr. discloses a kickboard having a forward planar portion inclined upwardly from a flat, rear portion. The buoyancy of the flat rear portion may be varied by filling it with a selected amount of liquid. No streamlining of the top and bottom surfaces is evident in this patent.
Another problem with the conventional kickboard that is shared by those of the above-mentioned references is that they support the swimmer in a position that does not correspond to the posture assumed while swimming. Consequently, prolonged use often causes soreness of the back.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved kickboard for a swimmer. It is a further object of the invention to provide a kickboard whose top and bottom surfaces are contoured to achieve improved streamlining. It is yet a further object of the invention to provide a kickboard which holds the swimmer at a level in the water which corresponds substantially with that assumed during normal swimming.